In recent years, flat-panel television units have become enormously popular in both the commercial and the residential sectors. As the prices for plasma and liquid crystal display (LCD) flat panel displays have continued to fall, and as the quality for the same devices have improved, more and more businesses and individuals have purchased such devices both for business and home entertainment purposes.
One of the advantages of flat-panel television units that customers have found particularly appealing is their relatively low thickness. Because conventional “tube” televisions have a relatively large depth, the display options for such devices are quite limited. In the residential setting, most users require a television stand or large entertainment center to store the television. Such stands or entertainment centers can take up significant floor space, which is often undesirable. In the commercial or educational setting, users will often install large overhead tilt systems that can contain the television. However, these systems usually require professional installation and, once the television is secured in the mount, it is often very difficult to access and adjust due to its height.
With flat-panel televisions, on the other hand, users are presented with a relatively new option: tilt the television directly to a wall or similar surface. By tilting the television relative to a wall, a person can eliminate the need to take up potentially valuable floor space with a television stand or entertainment unit. Furthermore, individuals and entities can mount the television at a sufficiently low height to be able to adjust the television's orientation with little difficulty.
Although the introduction of flat-panel televisions on a wide scale has presented new opportunities to both residential and commercial customers, it has also presented new challenges. Over the past few years, a number of wall tilt systems have been developed for use with flat panel televisions, but each has their own drawbacks. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,905,101 discloses a wall tilt system that permits a flat panel television to have a limited range of motion once it is mounted to the wall. The products described in these disclosures rely upon the use of a set of curved slots to form a rotatable connection between a tilt bracket and a support bracket, with rolling pins being used to create a rolling connection between the two brackets. Similarly, U.S. application Publication No. 2004/0245420 discloses a tilt system where a plurality of arc-shaped glides are used instead of rolling pins.
Although such systems are moderately useful, they suffer from a number of important drawbacks. Such systems often rely upon friction knobs or other friction-based mechanisms both to control the amount of resistance during the adjustment process, as well as to maintain a particular angular orientation once the positioning process has been completed. However, these friction-based mechanisms do not definitely “lock” the respective brackets in place, and these mechanisms can be forced from their set positions. As a result, even a slight bump of the flat screen unit can cause the orientation of the mount to be altered. In many settings, once the mount has been correctly positioned, it will not be (or will only infrequently be) readjusted. In such situations, accidental movement of the mount is especially undesirable.
It would therefore be desirable to provide an adjustable tilt system that enables a user to more securely fix the orientation of the mount once a desired orientation has been attained.